ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army successfully concluded Jaffar Express hostage-rescue operation on Wednesday, with all terrorists at the site eliminated and the hostages freed.
Speaking to a private news channel, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed the operation’s success, highlighting the coordinated efforts of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Special Services Group (SSG), Pakistan Army, and Frontier Corps (FC).
The attack took place on Tuesday when dozens of Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) militants sabotaged a railway track in Bolan, stopping the Jaffar Express—carrying over 400 passengers—and taking hostages. “All 33 terrorists have been sent to hell… no harm was caused to any passenger during the clearance operation,” Lt Gen Chaudhry stated.
However, before security forces initiated the operation, 21 passengers were martyred by the terrorists, he added.
The DG ISPR revealed that the militants had kept the hostages—including women and children—as human shields and placed suicide bombers among them. “Snipers from the security forces successfully neutralised the suicide bombers,” he said.
Additionally, intelligence reports confirmed that the attackers remained in contact with their handlers and masterminds in Afghanistan via satellite phones throughout the siege.
“This incident changes the rules of the game,” the ISPR spokesperson declared. “No one will be allowed to target innocent Pakistanis on streets, in markets, or on public transport under the guise of extremist ideologies.”
Lt Gen Chaudhry further assured that those responsible for orchestrating the attack would be hunted down and brought to justice. “The terrorists had no connection to Islam, Pakistan, or Balochistan. They were mere pawns of external forces,” he added. The military spokesperson also pointed out the role of various social media accounts in spreading propaganda regarding the Bolan attack.
“The first to break the news were BLA’s official accounts, including one operated under a female pseudonym but actually run by a man,” he disclosed.
Soon after, Indian accounts, particularly the widely followed ‘Baba Banaras’ handle, amplified the propaganda. Interestingly, he noted, official social media accounts affiliated with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) also participated in spreading misinformation.
“While terrorists were attacking the train, PTI’s official accounts were tweeting that this was the result of oppression against their workers,” he said. Some PTI accounts even praised the BLA for sparing certain passengers while claiming PTI supporters were being targeted.
“Such tweets were shocking and deeply irresponsible,” Lt Gen Chaudhry remarked. Security forces rescued nearly 190 passengers, including women and children, before launching the final clearance operation. A bomb disposal squad was deployed to ensure the train and surrounding area were safe.
The Balochistan government has imposed emergency measures, mobilising all relevant institutions. A relief train and security reinforcements were dispatched, while hospitals in Sibi and Quetta were put on high alert.
Security forces continue operations in the region to track down any remaining facilitators linked to the attack.
AFP adds: More than 340 train passengers taken hostage by a militant group were freed Wednesday by security forces after a 30-hour siege, an army official told AFP, confirming that 27 off-duty soldiers were martyred by militants.
Security forces launched a rescue mission Tuesday afternoon after a separatist group bombed a railway track in mountainous southwest Balochistan and stormed a train with around 450 passengers on board.
“346 hostages were freed and over 30 terrorists were killed during the operation,” an army official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
The 27 martyred soldiers had been travelling on the train as passengers, the army official said. One on-duty soldier was martyred in the clearance operation.
The official did not give a civilian death toll, but earlier a railway official and paramedic said the train driver and a police officer had been killed.
The assault was immediately claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which released a video of an explosion on the track followed by dozens of militants emerging from hiding places in the mountains. In a statement released after claiming the assault, the BLA demanded an exchange with security forces for its imprisoned members.
Passengers who escaped or were released by the militants described panic as gunmen seized control of the train, sorting through identity cards, shooting soldiers but freeing some families. “They asked us to come out of the train one by one. They separated women and asked them to leave. They also spared elders,” said Muhammad Naveed, who managed to escape.
“They asked us to come outside, saying we will not be harmed. When around 185 people came outside, they chose people and shot them down.”
Babar Masih, a 38-year-old Christian labourer, told AFP on Wednesday he and his family walked for hours through rugged mountains to reach a train that could take them to a makeshift hospital on a railway platform.
“Our women pleaded with them, and they spared us,” he said. “They told us to get out and not look back. As we ran, I noticed many others running alongside us.” Muhammad Kashif, a senior railway government official in Quetta, said Tuesday that the 450 passengers on board had been taken hostage.
An AFP photographer in Quetta, the provincial capital, witnessed about 150 empty coffins being transported by train to the incident site on Wednesday.
“A large number of (paramilitary) personnel and their families were on board the Jaffar Express, travelling home for their vacations,” said a senior security official stationed in Quetta on Wednesday. He added that the coffins are “reserved for military personnel” and some civilians.
“Sending 150 coffins does not necessarily mean that 150 people were killed,” he said.
Several passengers told AFP that gunmen demanded to see identity cards to confirm who was from outside the province, similar to a spate of recent attacks carried out by the BLA.
“They came and checked IDs and service cards and shot two soldiers in front of me and took the other four to… I don’t know where,” said one passenger who asked not to be identified.
“Those who were Punjabis were taken away by the terrorists,” he said. Authorities restrict access to many areas of Balochistan, where China has poured billions into energy and infrastructure projects, including a major port and an airport.
Reuters adds: Military said it had ended a standoff on Wednesday with militants who had hijacked a passenger train in the Balochistan and taken hundreds of people hostage.
The military’s spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said 21 hostages and all 33 insurgents were killed. Dozens of separatist Baloch militants on Tuesday blew up the railway track and hurled rockets at the Jaffar Express, carrying more than 400 passengers, a security official said. On Wednesday evening the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) said it had killed 50 passengers.
The BLA had threatened to start executing hostages unless authorities met its 48-hour deadline for the release of Baloch political prisoners, activists, and missing people it says were abducted by the military.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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